Share your travel deals with friends with Yapta’s Frugal Travel Flaunts

by Katie Hammel on

Yapta, a website that tracks prices and helps you figure out when to book your airfare, has launched a new Facebook application called Frugal Travel Flaunts. When you find a deal on a flight and add it to “my trips”, you can choose to publish it on your Facebook page, alerting all your friends to your great find.

The idea behind the app is pretty solid. How many times have you found out about the amazing low-cost flight a friend found, but too late? Hearing that my friend spent just $300 on a round trip ticket from Chicago to London after she gets back from the trip doesn’t help me take advantage of the same deal. And likewise, I feel bad when friends ask why I didn’t share the news of my cheap fare purchase with them. The Frugal Travel Flaunts application allows you to use social media to alert your friends to good deals and helps you score your own with a few easy clicks.

Yapta will also help you get a credit if a flight you’ve already purchased drops in price. The site will alert you to the fare decrease with a link that sends you to the page on their site with credit info. You can also “flaunt” that on your Facebook page, though I see that as a less useful tool. Sharing news on killer deals is one thing, boasting about refunds is another – there’s a fine line between a flaunt and a taunt.

To Italy and back for under $800

by Annie Scott on

Every once in awhile I catch wind of a deal so good, I think I might just take advantage of it myself — this is one of those deals.

It seems like it costs $800 just to breathe lately, but you can actually get to Italy and back for well under that! The deal is from TourCrafters, and for just $696, you can get airfare from New York on Alitalia — including fuel surcharges — and four nights in a three-star hotel (“The Florence Special”). For $799, you can stay in the four-star Hotel Kraft.

Other super cheap TourCrafters specials to Italy include Rome from $709 and glorious Venice from $734. The packages are for trips between November and the end of March and don’t include taxes, but those prices are pretty fantastic. And they also include full buffet breakfasts. Know what else is fantastic? Italy.

The temperature in Italy is in the 60s (Fahrenheit) during those months, which means while you probably won’t be baking in the sun, you’ll have perfect weather for sight-seeing, museums, and eating copious amounts of pasta.

And that, my friends, is better than breathing. Reservations must be made by October 30: 1-800-482-5995.

JetBlue quits flight pass deal

by Tom Johansmeyer on
You can’t jet as much as you want any more, as discounter JetBlue has suspended its “All You Can Jet” promotion. The deal offered fliers unlimited flights for a month for only $599.

To JetBlue’s surprise (but nobody else’s), the program was quite successful. The airline is taking advantage of the “while supplies last” comment in the promotion. Since the airline ran out of passes, it won’t keep the deal alive until Friday.

JetBlue does cite the realistic concern about seat availability: if too many people have passes, it could become impossible to accommodate everyone who’s entitled. Of course, the world is silent on whether oversized passengers need to buy two monthly passes, based on the growing airline trend regarding growing fliers.

$19 hotel room, bed not included

by Katie Hammel on

For $19, I wouldn’t expect much out of my hotel room. But a bed, lights and toilet paper are among the things I would consider to be basic necessities at any price. That’s not the case at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, where guests can elect to have different features of their hotel room removed in order to decrease the price.

The “Survivor Package” starts at $219 for deluxe accommodations and breakfast for two. Take out the breakfast and the price goes down to $199. Take out the AC or heat and you’re looking at $159. The removal of pillows, sheets, lights, linens, and toiletries decreases the price incrementally to just $39. Then things really get interesting. For $19, the resort will remove the bed and replace it with a tent. Basically, you’re paying for an indoor campsite.

The hotel’s manager says he wanted to do “something different” for a promotion. This gives guests on a budget a cheap, and memorable, way to enjoy the resort, which is set on 20,000 acres in San Diego. There’s a a golf course, three pools, three restaurants, and a spa that was named as the best by Conde Nast in 2008.

The deal has already been quite popular, with over 50 people making reservations for the $19 rooms. The promotion will run from August 16 to 31.

[via CNN]

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It pays to be young in Rome this August

by Katie Hammel on

To combat the travel lull Rome typically experiences in August, the city is offering some fantastic deals to lure travelers. The catch? You must be under 30 years old to get the special prices.

Head to any tourist office in Rome, show proof that you’re between 18 and 29 years old, pick up your free promo card and use it to get discounts all over the city. 32 restaurants are offering special menus that range from 5 to 25 Euros, with the average price being around 10 Euros for 2-3 courses. Common menus may include pizza or pasta and dessert or a drink. You’ll get deals on accommodations as well, with over 50 b&bs and 20 hotels offering significant discounts.

The card will get you a Roma Pass for 21 Euros instead of 23. The pass is good for 3 days and gets you free travel on city buses and the Underground, and covers admission to 2 museums (after that you can use it to get discounts to other attractions). You’ll also get 10% off at all city-owned museums and 5 Euros off the 20 Euro open-topped bus tour.

Check out the full list of participating establishments and deals available here.

[via Budget Travel]